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Passionate Living for the daily woman!
By Lucie Costa
Is your life ‘expressing’ who you were designed to be? What do you care about? Why do you live the way you do? Are you happy? Are you fulfilled? Are you truly living out God’s specific purpose for your life? Do you live your life with a sense of joy? Are you moved to bring about positive change to the circumstances in your life or to the world around you? Do you love deeply? Do you worship deeply? Are you living with a daily desire to be the woman God designed you to be?
Your answers to these questions could help you determine if you are living your life passionately and with purpose, or if life is just passing you by…
*Jeremiah 29:11 says that God has plans for you; plans not to harm you; plans for the good; plans to prosper you… to give you hope and a future.
Everywhere and every time I get the opportunity to speak into women's lives, I bring out this scripture. Why? Because I believe that if YOU believe that GOD has a unique purpose for YOUR life, then living your life with purpose and passion isn't impossible! Do you believe this? When you are 95 yrs old and look back on your life, will you regret how you lived it? Would you be able to say that you gave it your best; that you fulfilled your unique destiny here on this earth?
Tough questions, but important ones to ask yourself.
Day in…day out…
At times it's hard to believe that God has a unique plan for you when all you seem to be doing is changing diapers, rinsing bottles, or picking up gym shoes and doing a million loads of laundry a day! You find yourself just finishing up the lunch dishes and now it's time to start thinking about dinner!
God has a purpose for me?
Or maybe you work outside the home. You work in a fast paced environment all day long. The work is demanding, deadlines need to be met, the boss is a tyrant and you’re expected to be Superwoman, but you’re not and the pressure’s on, every single day…
God has a purpose for me?\
Or maybe you’re sick in your body. You can’t do too much. Your body aches all day and all you want to do is sleep. You can’t even fathom getting out of the house cuz you’ll be exhausted just ten minutes into your excursion! You have no more strength and all your prayers seem to be in vain…but…you still pray hoping with every prayer that He’s listening…
God has a purpose for me?
You’re single and you’re fighting loneliness even in the midst of the crowds around you. You pull yourself together – again and again and smile, hoping, just hoping that Prince Charming will come and sweep you off your feet and marry you and then you could finally have a LIFE! Or you’re just so independent that you don’t want to get married and all you want to do is have fun…that is…until real life hits and you realize it’s not all about having fun, it’s about growing up and fulfilling your destiny. But when? How? Where?….
God has a purpose for me?
I know I'm speaking to somebody! Well, listen up! God has a word for YOU!
Life is uncertain and there are disappointments along the way. It’s tough sometimes. But one thing is for sure, in spite of it all, yes! God has a unique plan for each woman - for the daily woman! For YOU!
Read *Psalm 139. Verse 16 tells us that God knew what each day of our lives would be before they even came to pass! Wow! Incredible isn't it? Then read the whole chapter 139 and think about it again. Believe it…as truth.
Whether we’re a mom, a wife, a secretary or a doctor; married or single, all the days of our lives (and I don't mean the Soap Opera - although God knows how life can become one for some!) God knew them before one of them ever came to be. That means that God knows what we’re going to choose or have been choosing to do with our days this whole time. And regardless of our poor choices we may have made in the past, or where we're at now, He won't waver about His promise to us about Him having plans that are good for us - to give us a hope and a future. He’s designed us with gifts that He knows will bring about fulfillment and purpose and joy to us if we would only CHOOSE to live them through! He desires that we live out our days fulfilled even as we work in or outside the home, or if we’re going to school or sick on our bed. His will is that we use the gifts He’s placed inside of us to fulfill His purposes for our destiny! If we are WILLING to step out of our comfort zones and put away our doubts and fears and recognize who He has made us to be and avail ourselves to Him to be used to fulfill His purposes for us, then watch – He’ll make the way. He’ll open the doors of opportunity. He’ll bring you to the right people. He'll create the right circumstances for all things He’s planned to come together for your good and for His purposes.
It’s a matter of 'do you want this for your life'? Do you trust God enough for you to take the steps of faith you need to allow this to happen? Are you willing to let God mold you and shape you into that incredible woman He designed you to be? Will you stop fighting all that God has planned for you? Will you stop being stubborn because you always have to have things your own way because you're too afraid of letting God take control? Yielding to God and giving Him your life over to Him is very exciting! Seriously. It gives your life purpose and fulfillment. Sometimes it’ll hurt though. Be ready! Growing pains hurt, discipline hurts, we fight change, but all these things are necessary to grow into that unique and beautiful woman that you really are.
It will take time, trust, patience and a willingness to do all that is required of you to get things rolling! Going through times of testing isn’t fun. Trying to reprioritize your life and making changes isn’t always easy. Letting control of your own life (as if we’re even in control from the beginning!) will be hard… But it is so worth it!
Let’s talk about ‘gifts’ and being practical with them ~
How do we know what gifts He gave us and how are we supposed to use them in the daily routine of life?
(If you don't have a Bible (Holy Scriptures) then I strongly recommend that you get one from a Bible believing Christian, or from a Christian Bookstore, or dust off the one you may have gotten for your 18th birthday!) I believe that the Word of God is the road map to our lives. It is God's instruction book, His compass, His direction that will take our lives and place us on the right road to fulfillment, joy and success!)
Read * 1 Corinthians chapter 12 & *Romans 12 and find out what your gifts are. Meet with a Pastor or a good Christian friend who can help you with this.
As you go through them, be honest with yourself and ask the Lord to show you what precious gift He’s placed inside of you so you can live the full life He’s called you to live.
Write down what you know you’re good at, not what you wish you were good at! Then look at this passage of Scripture and see where that fits in with your life.
Write down what you’re passionate about; what you love to do. Write down your dreams and then think about how and where you could use that gift in your daily life to begin living out your dreams.
Let your mind be creative as it links together your gifts and what your days consist of. Who can you bless each day, with your gifts? What could your gift actually accomplish? How can your gift be used to fulfill God’s plan for your life?
Regardless of where we find ourselves in the day, we make a choice of how we’re going to live each day out. Are we going to live out our responsibilities and duties with passion, excitement, joy, anticipation through the gifts that God gave us? (Various definitions of Passion: Expressing, having, moved by, strong emotion, strong desire…)
Or are we going to see our daily lives as ‘mundane, lonely, insignificant’ lives and settle for the ‘same ol’, same ol’!?
We could change all that! Whatever God has called us to do in this life as a mom, or a wife, or as a career woman or a single woman, God has called us to live that life with purpose on purpose! He’s called us and equipped us with gifts to make a difference in our daily world!
He’s given us His Word as the master road map – to know how to do this life with His gifts flowing out of us!
The key: Just ask God every day; before you start your day, to help you recognize the purposes He wants you to accomplish today. Ask Him to open your eyes to opportunities He sends your way to use your gifts in. Maybe it’s directed towards a stranger, maybe it’s your kids or your husband or your neighbor. When you ask God, daily, to use you in whatever it is you’re doing with your life, He will answer you. If you obey Him and step out in faith and allow Him to use you in what He’s gifted you in, then your whole life will become one that is fulfilling, God-honoring and exciting!
God has called us to live expressing His love, His hope in all we do so that we will make an eternal difference in our world. May we, daily, common, ordinary women live out our lives in extra-ordinary ways!!
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